Addressee: Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs · Source location: Page 14, 24b
Defra and its regulators are embarking on a period of potentially significant
reform of the regulatory system, taking several years. To help ensure a coherent,
whole-system approach to maximise the benefits of these reforms, Defra should determine how it will make the most of whatever Parliamentary time is
available for legislative change, and what alternative methods it can use
to make improvements;
Response position:
Accepted
Delivery:
Implemented
· Q1 2026-27
· Confirmed by NAO
Addressee: Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs · Source location: Page 12, 24e
Defra and its regulators are embarking on a period of potentially significant
reform of the regulatory system, taking several years. To help ensure a coherent,
whole-system approach to maximise the benefits of these reforms, Defra should: [ilot joint working for smaller projects or planning applications, based on
learnings from the ?lead environmental regulator? approach currently being
developed for major infrastructure projects; and
Response position:
Partially accepted
Delivery:
In progress
· Q1 2027-28
· Confirmed by NAO
Addressee: Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs · Source location: Page 12, 24b
Defra and its regulators are embarking on a period of potentially significant
reform of the regulatory system, taking several years. To help ensure a coherent,
whole-system approach to maximise the benefits of these reforms, Defra should:
a work with the regulators to set a plan for how existing change programmes and
new reforms ? including digital change ? will link together, so that they prioritise
changes that can unlock the greatest gains and are planned and delivered in a
coherent way. This should set out dependencies between actions, milestones
for delivery, resource requirements and governance arrangements;
Response position:
Partially accepted
Delivery:
In progress
· Q3 2026-27
· Confirmed by NAO
Addressee: Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs · Source location: Page 12, 24c
Defra and its regulators are embarking on a period of potentially significant
reform of the regulatory system, taking several years. To help ensure a coherent,
whole-system approach to maximise the benefits of these reforms, Defra should: update funding and performance mechanisms to place greater emphasis on
the extent to which the work of the regulators addresses environmental harm,
rather than what activities they are doing;
Response position:
Accepted
Delivery:
In progress
· not completed
· Confirmed by NAO
Addressee: Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs · Source location: Page 14, 24d
Defra and its regulators are embarking on a period of potentially significant
reform of the regulatory system, taking several years. To help ensure a coherent,
whole-system approach to maximise the benefits of these reforms, Defra should: investigate new approaches to sharing data including, for example, using open
data and licensing models or trialling projects for data sharing between
regulators that cover the same sectors;
Response position:
Accepted
Delivery:
In progress
· Q2 2027-28
· Confirmed by NAO
Addressee: Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs · Source location: Page 12, 24f
Defra and its regulators are embarking on a period of potentially significant
reform of the regulatory system, taking several years. To help ensure a coherent,
whole-system approach to maximise the benefits of these reforms, Defra should: define its risk appetite and the support it will provide to regulators if risks
materialise, to support a culture of change and innovation.
Response position:
Accepted
Delivery:
Implemented
· Q1 2026-27
· Confirmed by NAO
Addressee: Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs · Source location: Page 12, 25g
Alongside developing their approach to major reforms, the regulators
have opportunities to improve environmental regulation at an operational level.
They should, over the next year:
g prioritise building their capability around information and data that supports
regulatory decision making and making best use of all regulatory tools:
this should include:
? more robust and consistent ways to assess and triage intelligence and
identify where risks are greatest, and whether issues are best dealt
with by local officers or national teams;
? a more systematic approach to evaluating the impact of different
regulatory approaches; and
? working with Defra to ensure key decisions on, for example, resourcing
and regulatory priorities are based on an assessment of total costs
across the whole system including, for example, future costs of
remedial clean-up activities if pollution and non-compliance increase;
Response position:
Accepted
Delivery:
In progress
· Q4 2026-27
· Confirmed by NAO
Addressee: Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs · Source location: Page 15, 25h
Alongside developing their approach to major reforms, the regulators
have opportunities to improve environmental regulation at an operational level.
They should, over the next year: work with Defra to make guidance easier to find and use, including developing
real-world examples and scenarios alongside general guidance to support
regulated entities to comply;
Response position:
Accepted
Delivery:
Implemented
· Q2 2026-27
· Confirmed by NAO
Addressee: Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs · Source location: Page 15, 25i
Alongside developing their approach to major reforms, the regulators
have opportunities to improve environmental regulation at an operational level.
They should, over the next year: ensure they have systematic ways to incorporate the views of both front?line
regulatory staff and regulated entities in the design of future operational
processes and changes; they should also use these operational perspectives
to support ongoing reform programmes.
Response position:
Accepted
Delivery:
In progress
· Q1 2027-28
· Confirmed by NAO